Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

March 6, 2012

CONTACT

Sophia Cheng, 925-330-4448

aapipolicy@gmail.com

AAPIPRC ORGANIZES NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLIED RESEARCH

LOS ANGELES, CA – Stakeholders from the non-profit sector, government, and higher education are coming together in the first national conference to focus on collaborative policy research for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). The conference is sponsored by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Research Consortium (AAPIPRC) and will take place on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from 1-6pm at the National Education Association in Washington, D.C.

“This conference is a first step towards a powerful collaboration that will help ensure that future national policies actually take our communities into consideration in a meaningful way,” says Lisa Hasegawa, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.

Public policy impacts our daily lives, from immigration and health coverage, to neighborhood infrastructure and media institutions. Yet, there is currently no think tank focused specifically on how policy impacts AAPI communities. This conference fills that gap by promoting research that complements the existing work of advocacy, service and policy groups, while creating a pipeline for scholars interested in applied research.

“There is great need to elevate the local concerns of our growing and diverse AAPI populations to the national level,” says Tarry Hum, Associate Professor at City University of New York. “This is an opportunity to explore research collaborations that will address national policy issues from the perspectives of AAPI communities.”

There will be a special pre-conference at 10:30am for students and youth. "I'm hoping to connect my past work experience and current schooling to community-based policy and advocacy," says Ami Patel, an Asian American Studies graduate student at UCLA, who previously organized and advocated for green jobs and tuition relief.

Co-sponsors include the National CAPACD, the White House Initiative on AAPIs, the National Education Association, and the Association for Asian American Studies.

Founded in 2010, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Research Consortium is dedicated to producing knowledge that advances the field of Policy and Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies in the United States. The consortium’s members are the CUNY Asian American / Asian Research Institute, UMass Boston Institute for Asian American Studies, UC AAPI Policy Multi-campus Research Program, and UCLA Asian American Studies Center.